The AI answers with what you taught it. Better material means better conversations.
Teaching the assistant
Clear instructions
Good:
You are the assistant for Joe’s Bakery. Answer about menu, prices, hours, orders, and payment. If you do not know, say you will call the team and transfer.
Bad:
Be a good assistant.
Write what you would tell a new colleague at the counter. That becomes the assistant instructions.
Knowledge base
Upload focused material:
- Menu and prices
- FAQ
- Policies (delivery, returns, payment)
- Hours
Avoid huge, off-topic PDFs. They confuse the AI and use more credits.
Setting up the experience
Suggested questions
Add 3 to 5 buttons with frequent questions:
- Business hours
- Delivery
- Payment
- Talk to an agent
This reduces generic “hi” and leads straight to what the AI knows.
Welcome message
- ✅ “Hi! I’m Joe’s Bakery assistant. Ask about the menu or delivery!”
- ❌ “Welcome to the automated AI-based system.”
Identification
When the AI does not know
In instructions, make it clear:
If you do not know or they ask for a human, say you will transfer and hand off.
So visitors are not stuck in chat with no answer.
Watch costs
Each reply uses credits:
- Use an economical model (
gpt-4o-mini) for most cases
- Short, direct documents
- Suggested questions (fewer back-and-forth messages)
- 50 messages per conversation limit (default)
Checklist before going live
Common issues
Next steps
